I suppose it makes sense if your channel doesn't have a lot of new or live programming to just send a tape instead of setting up a feed.

I always wondered about these types of channels back then, that had absolutely no original programming, and very few if any commercials. What was the plan with them? Were they just trying to keep brand familiarity? Was it so difficult to get a channel spot that they didn't want to lose it? But if so, why go through all the hassle to get the spot with no income stream?

Weirdly GAS was a popular channel back in the day but was offered only on higher tier cable packages (in my market, it required Digital Cable, which meant hoping your parents were willing to splurge for the extra package, the digital box (or boxes)…). I assume the income stream was more being delivered from offering GAS as a ‘premium’ channel, then eventually it became an automated vehicle that just got lumped into a “bundle” of channels being sold to the cable companies (eg “Buy Nick for your customers and we’ll throw in GAS and Jr”) once they stopped providing actual live content for it circa 2004-2005.